He's not the most complex character I will admit since Sleeping Beauty was more about the fairies and Maleficent but I thought he was step up from the princes in Snow White and Cinderella. At least he actually has a name and he shows up for more than two scenes.
shareAs you said, Philip was an improvement in characterization from the Princes in Snow White and Cinderella. Unlike those princes, he actually fought for his woman when he went up against Maleficent as a dragon. He had a silky tenor singing voice provided by Bill Shirley to kill for.
However, I still don't think it's saying too much. He was still not richly developed into becoming a unique character. While he does appear in more scenes than the earlier princes, he just doesn't resonate any distinguished personality traits. Being easy-going (as seen when he bribes his horse for food) and love-struck can only take you so far. There has to be more weight to his personality. It's nice he is head-over-heels in love, but what makes Aurora so unique from any young woman he may have met?
In short, he was a typical nice guy, boy-next-door character. He never gave up on finding his true love after being discouraged by Maleficent, which was admirable. I just wish he was more fleshed out as a character because I feel so much could have been to improve his writing if so much time wasn't spent on the art direction during its lengthy production.
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
I liked him, but he's nowhere as fleshed out as Eric or the Beast per se. I also don't really get why Prince Phillip and Aurora don't speak at all during the second half of the film. I still like it though.
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan
I heard filming ran over and they weren't available to finish it up.
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